Rural School Leaflet 



941 



A RAINY DAY* 



L. H. Bailey 



HE soft, gray rain comes slowly down, 

 Settling the mists on marshes brown, 

 Narrowing the world on wood and hill, 

 Drifting the fog down vale and rill. 

 The weed-stalks bend with pearly drops^ 

 The grasses hang their misty tops, 

 The clean leaves drip with tiny spheres. 

 The fence rails run with pleasant tears. 



Away with care! I walk to-day 



In meadows wet and forests gray ; — 



'Neath heavy trees with branches low, 



'Cross splashy fields where wild things grow. 



Past shining reeds in knee-deep tarns, 



By soaking crops and black-wet barns, 



On mossy stones in dripping nooks, 



Up rainy pools and brimming brooks 



With waterfalls and cascadills 



Fed by the new-born grassy rills ; — • 



And then return across the lots 



Through all the soft and watery spots. 



Away with care! I walk to-day 

 In meadows wet and forests gray. 



* Courtesy of The Century Company. 



